Day 26: John 19:28-42 - It is Finished
“Then Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, ‘It is finished,’ and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”
Today’s Reading Passage: John 19:28-42
Crying out His final words, “It is finished,” Jesus died on the cross.
It is finished because the sin debt owed by man was finally paid in full.
It is finished because no longer did the Old Testament laws apply. Jesus fulfilled them all.
It is finished because Jesus completed the work He came to do (John 17:4).
What mercy! What a gift! That Jesus would sacrifice for us, even though we didn’t deserve it.
Doesn’t it just give you goosebumps?
As they took His body away to be buried, a familiar friend from John chapter 3 appears.
Nicodemus.
The Pharisee under the shadows of the night that heard Jesus Himself predict this moment, was seeing it come together right in front of Him as He prepared Jesus’ body for burial.
Jesus had told Him, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:16-17, NIV).
Nicodemus was seeing first hand that what Jesus said, was coming true. He had a personal relationship with Jesus that led him to a place where he could believe.
Unlike Nicodemus and the others, we get the glorious advantage of seeing it from a birds-eye view. We’re watching God’s love story unfold with each chapter of John. We see the story building up so we can understand the depravity in which we live, and yet the gravity of God’s love.
Jesus’ sacrifice was great. But it was so that we would not perish. So that we would have eternal life. So that we would be saved.
Have you ever thought of the Bible as a book that is telling a story of God’s love for you? What comfort do you have in knowing that Jesus’ sacrifice was for you and that He wants a personal relationship with you?
Written by: Heather Erickson